The results of our ground-breaking efficacy trial in the DRC – regarding efficacy of a locally sourced, lower cost RUTF to treat Severe Acute Malnutrition – have been published in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Read more here
Download the Valid Nutrition Annual Report 2015.
Read Steve’s views on how social businesses that focus on impact rather than image, can drive innovation in addressing malnutrition
http://www.ashoka.ie/media/2016/1/13/change-leader-interview-dr-steve-collins
We are delighted to announce that Dr Hans-Jürgen Koch will join the Board of Valid Nutrition as a Director.
Hans-Jürgen Koch has had a long and distinguished career initially in academia and then finance. This includes positons as former CEO of Deutsche Bank (Suisse) S.A; the Head of Private Wealth Management International for Deutsche Bank Group as well as the CEO of Wealth Management Europe for BNP PARIBAS SA.
Hans-Jürgen earned his Ph.D. from Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany. He was both a Fulbright Scholar at The Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York, and a DAAD-Scholar at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Hans-Jürgen holds dual Swiss and German nationality and currently resides in Zurich. He is married with three daughters.
We strongly believe that Hans-Jürgen’s skills, experience and knowledge are a great addition for Valid Nutrition. I am personally delighted that Hans-Jürgen has agreed to join our Board. I know that he will provide great support to help us continue to advance our mission to drive change in how malnutrition is addressed globally through innovative market and business based solutions.
Steve Collins
Chairman
May 2015
Over the past year our factory in Malawi, which we operate with our partners Exagris Africa, has produced 3 million sachets of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), sufficient to treat around 25,000 children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
Despite these figures it has been a difficult year due to a poor groundnut harvest. Peanut paste is a key raw material for RUTF and the quality need to be extremely high. We have struggled to maintain a consistent supply of paste and in response to this we have made several changes with our suppliers. While it will take some time to see the benefits materialise, we remain optimistic on the longer term outlook. Demand for RUTF remains high and if we can produce, the volume opportunities are there.
With the help of a grant from USAID’s South African Trade Hub (SATH), we plan to start pilot production of a Ready-to-use Complementary food (RUCF) in Malawi very soon.
What is RUCF? RUCFs are designed to prevent chronic malnutrition which affects 43% of all children in Malawi and on average over 40% of all children in sub Saharan Africa. We intend to undertake a test market project using RUCF in Malawi, which will focus on addressing the process used to reach children affected by Chronic Malnutrition using a customer and market driven approach. This is the first step in a very ambitious programme we have lined up for 2015 to start the process of unlocking this potentially massive market.
